As a result of an intensive 10 year study from the University of Chicargo, the city council has voted for the immediate removal of all automobiles,vans, trucks or similar devices from within the city. The study clearly shows that 100% of all accidents involving injury to pedestrians and motorists or their passengers are associated with self powered motorized conveyances.Therefore, the only sound remedy is the removal of all such machines from our community.

Effective on December 1, 2017, any person possessing or operating an automobile, van, truck or similar device within the city limits will be arrested on felony one charges of willful pubic endangerment under the new municipal code (under home rule exception). There will be no second chance.

New transportation permits will be available for single or multiple horse, mule or bicycle drawn carriages at a rate varying from $50-200 per year. There will be an additional fine for failure to remove animal feces on the roadway of $50 per incident.

Because of their ability to exceed new speed limits of 10 MPH, genetically engineered transportation animals are forbidden and if suspected, a DNA sample will be taken. If found in violation, an additional fine of $1,000.

For those citizens requiring handicapped exemptions, rickshaw allowances may be granted upon full vetting and approval. Prevailing applicants must demonstrate they cannot walk from the corner of State and Madison to clerk's desk at city hall without having a heart attack or stroke.

Regardless of conveyance form, a city sticker priced at $500 per year will still be required for each axle of a conveyance.

Existing boot and impoundment ordinances will remain in force as modified for the new forms of conveyances.

Thanks for the insult, it's greatly appreciated when coming from the likes of you.I find it sad that the US bases so many (stupid) arguments as this on the idea of fear. We're scared of everything, just like Father (yeah, right) Greg.

But with a gun, suddenly it's "BANG BANG I'm Jesse F'in James! Out my way, pard'ner, I got me some a-shootin' and a-killin' to do!"

COLD DEAD HANDS and all that.

I knew years ago there was no being able to reason with someone who enjoys having a large hunk of steel for compensation,

While it’s possible big data can support arguments on any side of this issue, I am alive and physically unharmed today because of an accessible firearm.

That gun held at bay an intruder who entered my childhood home when I was alone and 15 years old - until the police arrived to arrest him. Following trial, he served 8 years in a state institution.

Some of you may feel safe, protected, and willing to delegate the defense of your life to another entity, in your current situations . You will feel differently when you are confronted by someone whose sole (recorded) agenda is to assault & kill you through no fault of your own and with no (publicly stated) regard for the consequences of their actions.

You retain your right to continue lobbying to take legal guns away from law-abiding citizens if you’re willing to potentially sacrifice your (or your family’s) lives as a condition, but perhaps you can understand that I choose to defend mine. I may be a statistical anamoly - but I owe my life to the accessibility of that gun and the proper training/respect for it that I received.

I sincerely hope that those who entrust their safety to others receive that protection in time if needed. I will not take that risk. Our state was able to protect me for 8 years.

I was contacted by the lead detective in my criminal case, upon the pending release of the individual who had intended to kill me. He wanted to ensure I knew, and to confirm (because I had moved from my family’s home) that I still kept a firearm in my home. My answer: “yes, sir”.

Daniel - sorry for the barb yesterday - it's just that your repeated oversimplification of a complex issue and total deafness to the facts got to me. I agree, let's talk and not insult.

I also find it interesting that most of the folks that want to take away guns are also the ones that want to keep the right to kill unborn babies/fetus through selective abortion. - Now regardless of whether you consider that a fetus is a fully developed cognizant human, you must agree it is killing a human life form of some type or potential.

I don’t find that curious in the slightest. They have nothing to do with each other. One is about regulating particular firearms for which their sole purpose is to be used as weapon against others. The other is about whether a bundle of cells with the potential to become a human being should have priority over the actual human being that those cells exist in and depend on. Considering people’s demonstrated propensity towards their anger manifesting in violence I’m in favor of regulating the former as it meets my measure of serving the greater good at the least amount of individual expense. Considering the objective scientific facts regarding a zygote or a fetus and their not being the same as the woman carrying said zygote or fetus, I support the reproductive right of the woman for meeting the same criteria.

PS you often lash out at people and then follow up with what amounts to an apology and a desire to continue conversation. This site makes you preview everything before posting and asks that you refrain from being un-neighborly. Not being rhetorical here but maybe take that into consideration before posting.

Matt- I appreciate your well thought out viewpoint on abortion. We both know it is still a divisive issue among many Americans. I actually think it should be OK if early on or in cases of rape or obvious deformations where the child would suffer. It is the late stage ones that I question as being close to murder.

I think I already stated that I do not approve of rapid-fire military style firearms for personal safety or hunting. It's like using a lawnmower to trim your beard. On that point we agree. Shotguns with a wide spread of small BBs make for a good tool in home protection because in a panic, you don't have to be a great aim to put a dent in the intruder and the pellets won't accidentally go through a bedroom wall and hit someone sleeping by mistake. I also note KB's story earlier where just having "the drop" on the intruder surprised and stopped him in his tracks and he never had to fire.

“particular firearms for which their sole purpose is to be used as weapon against others.” Full quotation, please. The guns in question are designed to shoot more ammunition faster. That’s not for sport or food. It’s a weapon. You know that.

I agree with Matt on his last comment (see my remark about using a lawnmower to trim a beard) with a little tweak... anything can be a weapon, whether or not it was designed to be one...

I completely stand for all of us to continue to choose to defend our homes and loved ones IN-THE-NOW with whatever tool we have at our disposal: a hammer, a shovel, a firearm... The great thing about inherent rights is you can choose not to use them - but for Pete's sake, don't try to control your neighbor's rights either.

For example. You can choose not to fight an erroneous red-light camera ticket when you know (and the photo shows) you were in the intersection before the red light and made your right-turn-on-red.... but maybe I will.

Oh - in addition to agreeing with Matt to ban automatic military style firearms from civilian use, I also demand that everyone that chooses to own and operate protective or hunting firearms has them locked safely to avoid stupid accidents like kids finding loaded guns in drawers... those truly are the saddest stories of the best intentions going awry...

Parents that screw that up are most certainly negligent and responsible for whatever harm comes of it. - They lock up prescription medicine, gas for lawnmowers and household poisons - use the same or more care with firearms!

Sorry - One more thought comparing hunting to home protection.... in hunting, there is an implied concept of fairness to your game that if you miss your first shot (guns or arrows), the report will send the animal running and it has a better chance of escaping... rapid-fire instruments would cancel that concept. Hunting relies on training, patience and accuracy to insure the least suffering of your game target - what we call a "clean kill".

However, when it comes to home protection, you want an overwhelmingly unfair advantage over a criminal intruder. In their eyes, YOU are the GAME they are hunting! You must be like a giant Grizzly Bear that will destroy your attacker if they do not relent. You've got one chance to subdue or stop such criminals. Remember, without guilt, they are the ones that created this horrible choice.

Mute- I think that is a matter of age of the kids... too young are un-trainable - later on they are. I'm an old guy and a lot of stuff that is mandatory for safety today like bike helmets and hockey equipment we never used... we also survived. We learned (without having a name for it) the concept of "risk management" for our own safety. Right?

Also - perhaps we were better students and respected our parents teachings more back then than the current crop?

Id like to think I was a responsible kid. My grandma used to complain that my mom had me medicating myself at 5. Not sure how old before the guns were proudly displayed on a gun rack and in a gun case in the house openly( not sure if gun case was locked..I didn't dare touch it..i knew better). I do know before I was 11 guns were being shot at targets in the basement with me. And I know from the ripe old age of 3 guns were openly hanging on the wall in my bedroom at grandpas house! The door was always shut and I was only in there to sleep. These were the days of latchkey kids! Do millenials even know what that is?! Good ole days when kids were pretty self sufficient and had some rules and regulations!

Correct! I saw my dad use his shooting targets only. I don't believe he had automatics but did have semi automatics. If that matters? Also had a sister 10 years younger. Grandpa is dead now and dad has both supplies. Has a live in granddaughter 11 years old now and guns are not in the house anymore. They are locked in garage. Not sure when the locking up started or why but maybe when his dad died and he acquired grandpas more valuable guns? But very much 2 generations of simple gun enthusiasts for hobby/ not even hunting. Grandpa never even used his. Just had them hanging on walls. A collection to look at like any other collection.. On mothers day I was having a bad gallbladder attack. Dad dragged me out to go target shooting with semi automatic. Focusing my mind on things other than pain actually helped. And I'm not a gun owner or enthusiast.

Guns hanging on walls with kids around? Dumb. The "How did we ever survive" attitude regarding all these laws nowadays telling us how to live? Also dumb. Because the answer is, folks, We Didn't. Before car seats, seat belts and air bags more people died. There is a law in California that puts parents in prison if they keep firearms unlocked in a home where there are children. A leader of a white supremacist group in Riverside, CA was shot to death by his 9 yr old son and the mother went to jail. Mute, sounds like you were just one of the lucky ones who outlived parental stupidity.

robin, are you really using a "Mother Jones" article as a fact???LOL LOL LOLMother Jones is a ultra radical publication, that pushes the globalist wet-dream of an unarmed American population! I do understand that some people hate guns. To those I say, you're a free person living in a free country. You don't like guns? Cool, then don't buy one. Oh? you get all agitated because your neighbors own guns? That's OK too, feel free to go to the Australian embassy an apply for an immigrant visa. Easy. (So robin, you don't like guns, you don't like gasoline powered cars, you don't like sugar, but you love new taxes... are you form California? What's going on? Why do you push your ideologies so much?)

Phill, find a new hobby. Right wing blow hards don’t need to fine tune their arguments, I know, but we already have a clown like you in this conversation. If you must insist upon your rambling “corrections,” please don’t wait over three days and numerous subsequent comments to do so. Pull it together, dude, if you want to be an effective bully.

No, I just realize that there's no point in being civil with people like you. In person you might be a complete tool or you may display actual signs of humanity. But online you're just a loudmouth troll. I don't have time to be nice or understanding to you idiots any longer. You'll die before me, that's solace enough.

Take a look at yourself. You're enraged! You're enraged because you don't like that others think different than you and that makes you so mad that you wish death upon others.Typical "progressive" it seems.

(Wishing that someone dies... man, that's so low. You ride a bike in Chicago traffic, right?)

Matt - I've given you all the breaks that reasonable consideration can allow...

As this blog thread shows (prima faicie), I have tried hard to reach equilibrium with you, despite our disagreements on the issues.

You must NOW feel the heat of your own hypocrisy for accusing me and others of insults when your last several posts have been little more than veiled insults on me and the most recent new contributors - quoting you,

"Phill, find a new hobby. Right wing blow hards don’t need to fine tune their arguments, I know, but we already have a CLOWN like you in this conversation." (emphasis added)

So I'm a clown?

Now that you made your bigotry clear, I will be reporting you to EveryBlock and let them (not me) deal with adjudication over you...

PS - whether or not they agree, I just figured out I can mute you from all future comments on this posting - if you do not repent...

Matt- adding to my report to EveryBlock, I just noticed your other horrible comment to contributor Phill,..

"...you're just a loudmouth troll. I don't have time to be nice or understanding to you idiots any longer. You'll die before me, that's solace enough."

Matt - Do you have inside knowledge of how or why contributor Phill will die before you? It appears on the surface that this is a veiled assassination threat. Do you secretly hold illegal weapons to facilitate this or are you so well funded that you can hire a hit on contributor Phill?

I am really concerned about this for contributor Phill and EveryBlock should be too.

Is there a way to warn everyone in Chicago of this kind of potential threat? Please pitch in and help. This is new to me.

Father Greg, look at his comment history and if you read his comments you'll come to the same conclusions I got and you'll realize that (I don't insult people because it goes against Every Block's terms of use) the guy has problems and it's better to leave it at that.

in the vernacular, a person referred to as a CLOWN in serious matters is one whom you do not take seriously or is without substance to support his positions (a rebuttable presumption of distraction for illicit or nefarious purposes) - it is most certainly an insult in the context of this conversation- as none herein have implied that they were just joking...

Matt - your motives for inflammatory comments regarding Phill's death go beyond the pale of even reasonable "heated conversation" and require further investigation by EveryBlock and the Chicago Police Department... You should have thought about that before you opened your mouth (weapon) upon others... As I said before - even things that were not originally designed to be "weapons" can be used as such - AND YOU CROSSED THAT LINE...

Phill - I am not mad or upset because, as you say "other people don't share my ideas" because really they are not my ideas...

These ideas (upon which this union was built) were framed in the founding principals of this republic (not democracy - look it up) called the United States of America and each sovereign constituent republic State (guaranteed in the federal constitution) and each sovereign constituent elector thereof (guaranteed in the Treaty of Paris 1783)...

Rather I am saddened that the American people cannot open their minds to know their own history of existence, to know their duty to the cares and concerns of their fellow constituents, and would rather force and impose their own beliefs on their fellow Americans instead of figuring out how we can work together on an harmonious system of mutual love, care and defense of the things we all hold dear, which takes into consideration everyone's God-given (not government-given) rights...

OK Phill - that is what causes me to keep writing and trying to inspire others to learn and grow - and makes me sad when they don't...

Mute - the report I am making pertains to Matt's threatening comments against you not yours...

BTW- thanks for reminding us of the obvious that an adjective is imposed upon a noun as a modifier [e.g. democratic(adj.) Republic(n.)] - duh, might as well talk about a 'virgin pregnancy'... lol

The USA is and has always been a Republic with democratically elected representatives by and for the underlying sovereign constituents/electors (you and me) - It is not a runaway republic with a monarch and parliament nor is it a straight democracy (always a disaster since Greece first tried it - quoting Ben Franklin and Tom Jefferson) hence the well thought out hybrid form of government that the founders created...

The lower RANK of citizen was established for people to CHOOSE to subscribe to a subordinate status so that they could be legally treated as "subjects" under their own government under their elected representatives, instead of above them... everyone still has a choice of status - albeit that the latest batch of elected officials might gun you down for asserting that right - look it up!

BTW I supported all you had to say up the the Gacy stuff - no idea about why you would do that to diminish your strong position in this conversation...

Wow, I logged off and engaged with real life and look what the peanut gallery has gotten into. I hope you all are proud of yourselves. Great work! A lot of really great points and sound logic here. You’re right, I shouldn’t have chosen to lower myself to the absurd rhetoric of y’all. I should’ve stayed in my lane, above the fray trying to reason with children (and a few clowns).

Btw I don't make a comment to gain support. And I'm not sure how after one comment you didn't like now my former strong positions are diminished. Those positions haven't changed so they are still strong.

I avoid the mute feature unless someone is over-the-top threatening. I do not want to be accused of topical or opinion censorship... freedom of speech for all - even those who disagree is essential to our way of life. It's hard enough with the EB censors yanking things that I deem fully within the rights of others to say.

As to your distasteful and insensitive clown comment... I did not imply that it diminished the value of your previous comments... I was stating that it runs the risk of devaluing the group's perception of you. Even if you meant it as an irony or joke - because many of us are still affected by that monster, it was beyond the pale of humor. OK? Please be mindful in the future. Thanks!

unless we get some "new blood" in here that want to share their opinions and thoughts on this topic... I think we've pretty much taken it through its paces... Thanks to all sincere contributors for sharing!